The source | Love Fan
ID|ifanr
The author | Du Yuanyi
Recently, Google pushed an OTA to Pixel 6, in addition to patching and fixing bugs, it also quietly stuffed the "disable 2G" function.
Disable the 2G switch on pixel. Image courtesy of Arstechnica
It does not appear in the official upgrade directory, but is written in the Android 12 release notes, for developers rather than the general public.
The description of disabling 2G features in the Android 12 release notes. Image: Google
Probably because the Pixel user group is not large, just adding a 2G network switch has not caused much waves, and even when I asked my colleagues around me about the Pixel 6 Pro as the main backup, he was still a little surprised.
But the switch made the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) celebrate wildly, not only writing a letter of commendation to Google on its website.
Image courtesy of EFF.com
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been calling for the retirement of outdated 2G cellular standards since 2020, and Google's Android system is the first mobile operating system in more than a year to allow users to disable 2G networks completely. For this, EFF is even eager to make a pennant for Google.
At the same time, EFF also launched a solidarity campaign on Twitter, which is naturally aimed at iOS, another major mobile operating system, hoping that Apple, like Google, will add a 2G network switch to iOS.
Please turn off the 2G network
When formulating 2G communication technology standards, relevant agencies did not consider some risk scenarios, and with the passage of time and the upgrading of new communication technologies, two major problems occurred in 2G cellular network standards.
One is the use of weak encryption between the device and the signal tower, which can be cracked by attackers in real time and used to intercept calls and text messages. Second, the signal tower and the mobile phone do not have identity verification, when the pseudo base station appears, the mobile phone can not distinguish, and then the data information is intercepted.
These security vulnerabilities have been fixed in 4G networks, but in some special scenarios, smartphones will automatically switch to 2G networks, and vulnerabilities will appear in the sun. Now many pseudo base stations will also take advantage of this feature, forcing the connection of surrounding smartphones to be reduced to 2G and carry out network intrusion.
Google Pixel 6 Pro.
While commending Google for its actions, EFF also recommends that users actively turn off the 2G switch that is turned on by default to block potential dangers.
At present, in addition to pixel, some new Samsung phones have also added corresponding switches in the system, but the new Android machine in my hand does not have related options.
Google also pointed out in the Android 12 release notes that this switch requires android 12 systems and Radio 1.6 HAL (hardware abstraction layer), which will not be updated with the upgrade of the Android system.
For this reason, ArsTechnica directly recommends buying a new Android machine with Android 12 pre-installed, rather than an old product that can be upgraded to Android 12. However, for the 2G switch, I think it is difficult to defeat the domestic custom Android system. For Apple, which can control the software and hardware globally, it is not difficult to add 2G switches.
2G has begun to retire from the network, will it be superfluous to add a switch now?
Regarding 2G networks, in fact, in 2019, it has been on the hot search, and the three major operators are gradually shutting down 2G networks, which has led to some devices being unable to make calls.
To this end, China Unicom also came forward to respond, simply put, to gradually shut down the 2G network to release the corresponding network resources for 4G network upgrades and 5G network layout.
Image courtesy of AppleInsider
Not only Unicom, But also China Telecom and China Mobile are also gradually releasing the frequency bands of 2G and 3G networks, gradually stopping related network services, and fully shifting to 4G and 5G.
Looking at the world, it is also the trend of the times to clear 2G and 3G. AT&T in the United States stopped providing services to 2G networks as early as January 1, 2017, and many operators in Canada, South Korea, Japan and other countries are shutting down 2G networks as planned to clear 2G users.
AT&T shut down 2G networks in 2017, making the original iPhone the largest iPod Touch. Image courtesy of idropnews
However, some countries and regions in Europe will continue to operate 2G networks until 2025, network technology is relatively backward in Africa, operators have no plans to stop 2G networks, but according to reports, many regions have no 2G, 3G services.
In this way, in developed countries and regions, even if there is no 2G switch set in the system, there may actually be no corresponding 2G network service, and the related risks naturally do not exist.
It seems that the EFF should call on operators to speed up the shutdown of 2G services. In fact, in addition to being used for functional machines to make calls, 2G networks are also widely used in the Internet of Things.
In addition to clearing out a huge number of 2G users, the corresponding Internet of Things industrial equipment upgrade is also imperative. This is one reason why some operators in Europe shut down 3G first and keep 2G online until 2025.
So shutting down 2G network services is more of a process than a simple pull-in. Correspondingly, adding a 2G network switch to the smart device and turning it off is faster than calling on the operator. And in the process, the switching of the 2G network is not redundant.
Not only operators, mobile phones are also saying goodbye to 2G and 3G
In fact, as operators gradually stop 2G and 3G networks, smartphones have also begun to bid farewell to 2G and 3G networks.
Bank of China's iPhone 13 series no longer supports China Telecom's 2G and 3G network standards. Similarly, the functional machines that once dominated 2G networks have gradually upgraded to 4G.
Nokia's new feature phones have gradually added support for 4G VoLTE, with the aim of facilitating the replacement needs of some old feature phone users after the 2G network has completely stopped service.
Both the device side and the operator are phasing out outdated and insecure network standards. The current 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G "four generations in the same house" may be completely broken this year and next year, and future devices will gradually reduce support for 2G network bands.
Although the Electronic Frontier Foundation has called for the addition of the ability to disable 2G, which can protect the public from 2G cellular network vulnerabilities at a basic level, according to the farewell speed of operators and devices to 2G networks, 2G networks may have become history before this switch becomes public awareness.
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